Peter Wilcock Selected To Be Saffron Walden Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Lib Dems

5.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 9th Apr 2008

Saffron Walden Liberal Democrats have selected Councillor Peter Wilcock to be their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate.

At a packed meeting in Dunmow last Friday (4th April), Liberal Democrats from across Saffron Walden Constituency selected their candidate to stand in the Saffron Walden Parliamentary Constituency. The next election will be fought on new boundaries: the constituency will lose the Hedingham and Halstead Divisions and gain the Broomfield & Writtle areas of the Borough of Chelmsford.

They chose Peter Wilcock, the Leader of Uttlesford District Council's Liberal Democrat Group, who has been a District Councillor for Rickling and Widdington since 1995, and for Newport since 2003. He was Chairman of Uttlesford District Council in 2005/6.

Peter lives in Henham with his wife Shirley. They have 3 grown up daughters, one of whom is a Lib Dem town councillor in Bishop's Stortford. Peter is employed by a social research company working on government surveys. He was appointed a member of the Essex Probation Board in 2007.

Peter has stood for parliament before - in the Harwich constituency in 2001. He has lived in Saffron Walden Constituency for over 30 years.

Constituency Chairman, Melvin Caton said, "I am pleased that the members have selected a hard-working councillor to represent us at the next General Election - a candidate who will fight for all the people of this Constituency. The Liberal Democrats can win this seat. Peter has the ability to work with people across all age ranges to make that happen. Labour has come third at every General Election here since 1974 and cannot win: they have no District, Borough or County Councillors in the new constituency. Here, in the north-west of Essex, the Liberal Democrats are the only party seriously challenging the Conservatives. In all recent elections (District, Borough, County and Parliamentary) the Liberal Democrats finished ahead of Labour.

Speaking on his selection, Peter Wilcock said, "I know that many of the people in this area are concerned about the pressures of development from housing and the airport. I am certain that it is time for a hard-working Liberal Democrat MP to take over, to represent all the people of this constituency. I am particularly looking forward to meeting more people in the new part of Constituency that lies within the Borough of Chelmsford."